From Resort to Gallery: Nation Building in Clara Porset’s Interior Spaces*
No. 23 (2018-07-01)Author(s)
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Sandra I. Vivanco
Abstract
Modern design in Latin America exists between technological utopia and artisanal memory. Often anachronistic, this tension has historically sponsored the use of unusual materials and unorthodox construction methods. This article critically analyzes key interior spaces designed by Cuban born Clara Porset in mid-century Mexico that interrogate traditional interior and exterior notions and question boundaries between public and private. By exploring both her posh and serene collective interior spaces within early Mexican resort hotels and her well-considered minimal furnishings for affordable housing units, we confirm that both kinds of projects call into question issues of class, gender, and nation building.
References
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